Gaijin Sushi coming to the Park Harvey

[Blazerfan11]

My friend Todd Mikeman owns a restaurant in Kansas that receives their fish from the coast via DHL overnight....

[mecarr]

I drove by there today around 12:15 and it was packed. It looked very nice. I'm glad someone took the risk in opening up a place like this downtown. I think it'll be successful.

[metro]

Had a meeting at the downtown library tonight, when we were done at about 7pm, looked like Gaijin was still hopping. It sure does bring a fresh/crisp bright ambiance to a usually dead part of the CBD at night.

[PLANSIT]

Had lunch there at about 11:30. Steady crowd came around noon. As others have stated there was definitely some first day jitters, but overall a good experience. The food was great and the prices are right. Its sure going to be nice to be able to eat and drink steps from my door.

[mecarr]

I went by there tonight around 9:30pm, there were still quite a few people in there. We were greeted by the manager at the door, who was very nice. He said that they had completely sold out of everything. They had 4 times as many customers today as they expected. But anyway, the guy was real nice and apologetic about it. They are open until 10 on week nights, and I think open a bit later on Fri & Sat.

[jbrown84]

I came home around 8 and they looked almost full.

[PLANSIT]

^^I've heard from the leasing agent of Park Harvey, they will be open till 2 am on the weekends. Seems doable if it's just the bar.

[Turanacus]

ate lunch there today, was disappointed.

Pro's / Con's

heard loud sheryl crow, probably radio station 98.1
hoped to hear background house/acid jazz music to create a neat ambiance

furniture was cheap, plain, run-of-the-mill
hoped to see a modern/urban decor, actuality was far from it

sushi was decent, nothing like Tokyo House nor Saii
menu was truncated, not a whole lot to choose from, nothing to separate this joint from anyone else.

wait staff was uninformed,

edamame was served cold,

not enough wasabi and ginger to go around, had to ask a couple of times for replenishments

prices were comparable, nothing too high, no deals to be had

when reviewing, i always try to think of positives to post with negatives, but there wasn't much there to report, won't be going back on purpose.

I had high expectations, as this had potential to be a dope joint. . .

[OKCMallen]

Give it another shot. This is an abbreviated opening. In 2 weeks, it's the full menu, the servers will be more with it, their ordering will be with it. You have awfully high expectations for a restaurant that's had it's doors open like 72 hours.

[Dave Cook]

Please tell me coming next to Bricktown is an izakaya with nomihodai specials!!!!

Man, who could have predicted ten years ago that sushi places would be so popular today. Weird.

[PLANSIT]

^^^ Wow, you have some high expectations. Do you really think the menus are just a piece of paper? The real menus are coming, so be patient. As for the decor... I think it was modern and urban. It's a pretty big space so I'm sure they had to cut down a little on the aesthetics. The staff WAS uninformed, but they probably were hired the day before, so that will change fast.

The edamame was FREE!

The ginger and wasabi portions were comparable to most places I've been.

Try it again in a month or so.

[Turanacus]

the high expectations were partially derived from Gaijin in Norman. but i understand that I can be critical . . . .

i was with friends that wanted to check out Gaijin Park Harvey this weekend so we went 10 pm Saturday night, they were closed. :-(

[BailJumper]

Decided to take the wife there today for lunch.

We got there just after 11am to avoid any lunch crowds. We were the only patrons so we took a spot by the West window.

Place looked nice and not overdone. Couldn't help but notice one of their wall sconces was out and one bulb over the sushi bar was dead as well as another in the dinning area - I like when managers address these details before they open.

I also noticed rock music being played in the background - very odd - and even more weird was the bandana'd caucasian 'sushi chef' singing along to Aerosmith I think it was.

The waitress was very attractive,pleasant and prompt.

The menu (yes, it was just a piece of copy paper - didn't mind though) seemed a bit slim but covered all the bases.

We ordered the calamari (awesome! and a large serving), Devil's Advocate (very good with just enough spice) and the Philly (simple and very fresh).

Total was about $25 - which I thought was quite the norm.

My biggest gripe was the amount of time it took to get our food.

We ordered at about 11:05am (keep in mind we were the only patrons) and the calamari did not arrive until 11:30am (was supposed to be an appetizer) followed by the rest of the order within 2-minutes. The waitress did however acknowledge the delay.

We left just after noon and I believe all the tables were taken with a couple of spots at the bar left.

Pro: Great location, great views of people coming and going outside. The prices were fair. The decor was very acceptable, though could be bumped up a notch. The sushi tasted great to us!

Cons: More attention to little details needed (light bulbs, residue on tables, background music, please no more karaoke by the chef. I'd have loved to have seen more professional looking sushi chefs (please, no dirty ball caps). Would have been nice if the manager would have circulated a bit and welcomed guests. And, the time it took to serve the meal was unacceptable.

Overall: We really liked it and would go back.